Sachin Bansal, Co-Founder and CEO of Flipkart made a tweet that puts to rest the rumours that have been making rounds for past few weeks. He has tweeted that Flipkart has raised USD 360 million dollars in latest round, which means an addition of USD 160 million to go with previous 200 mln that is closed in July 2013.

This is the largest amount to be raised by any Indian internet business ever!

With this round the total amount raised by Flipkart till date is pegged at USD 541 Million!

Previously———

To all those who thought that India is the country where “if you can’t touch it, you won’t buy it” notion works perfectly, Flipkart proved one and all wrong. Not only has it started a new culture of buying online, it has encouraged a whole new generation to try and experiment with stuff they would never buy in a brick-and-mortar store.

Nearly 100 days ago, this blue-eyed boy of Indian ecommerce managed to raise a whooping USD 200 million from its investors, the largest in a single round for a ecommerce company in the Indian subcontinent. The whole world noticed this transaction, something which was thought to be impossible.

Trade pundits had predicted the downfall and the bubble burst to happen. This Rs 1200 crore had hit the nail on its head. Ecommerce is here to stay and Flipkart will rule the roost as of now.

And now we get this news: Flipkart is in the process of raising another $125 millioni.e. Rs 800 crore!!!

It is more than adequate proof of the growth model which it has exemplified. Bangalore-based Flipkart is in talks with its existing investors, Tiger Global Management Llc, Accel Partners, Iconiq Capital, and MIH (a part of South Africa media company Naspers Group) and at least two other US-based investors for the latest round.

Bypassing Indian laws:

The investment is being sought by Flipkart Holdings Singapore, the Singapore-based entity created in February this year by the company’s founders to get around the Indian law that doesn’t allow foreign direct investment in e-commerce companies. Flipkart Holdings runs the marketplace. The company’s Indian front-end operations and delivery systems are owned by WS Retail Services Pvt. Ltd.

“We are always talking to people. There is always someone interested in us…there is a lot of interest for a business like ours,” said Binny Bansal, co-founder and chief operating officer, Flipkart.

How much till now?

Tiger Global, Accel Partners, Iconiq Capital, and Naspers Group had invested the earlier $200 million in July. Cumulatively since 2007, Flipkart has till now raised $381 million in five rounds of funding.

Details of Flipkart Funding till date:

Round

Who Funded

Date

Amount

First Round

Accel India

2009

USD 1 Million

Second Round

Tiger Global

2010

USD 10 Million

Third Round

Tiger Global

June 2011

USD 20 Million

Fourth Round

Naspers / ICONIQ Capital

August 2012

USD 150 Million

Fifth Round

Naspers, Accel Partners, Tiger Global, and ICONIQ Capital

July 2013

USD 200 Million

Sixth Round

???

????

USD 125 Million?

Is this cat drinking all the milk?

Funding seems to have dried up for smaller e-commerce firms over the past 18 months. Out of the 53 e-commerce companies that raised $853 million in venture capital over the past three years, only 11 have managed to raise further rounds.

Excluding Flipkart, there have been 39 investments in the e-commerce space in India thus far this year, for an aggregate investment of $171 million. The comparable numbers for 2012 were 60 deals worth $332 million.

The future?

Technopak had mentioned last week that the e-commerce market in the country is estimated to grow from the current $1 billion to $56 billion by 2023. Online retail is expected to account for 6.5% of the total retail market, compared with 0.1% now. By 2015, Flipkart hopes to sell products worth $1 billion on its site.

Everyone has an IPO on their mind. Looking at what Alibaba.com is planning to, investors are continuing to invest money in the company, thinking they can create valuation of $15 billion to $20 billion and that they get a large ticket public sale of shares in four to five years.

Flipkart’s success is very essential for Indian E-Commerce space. Not only it will put it in the league of the Tatas and Birlas, it would encourage a whole new entrepreneurial next-gen, crucial to establish India as a superpower. Keeping fingers crossed till then!